The preceding day an Imperial Victory-class Star Destroyer, the Dominator, arrived at the swampy world of Taul to investigate the disappearance of a probe droid and discovered a small Rebel base on the planet. The result of this finding was a battle in which the Rebel base was destroyed. Several transport ships managed to escape the surface of the planet. The Dominator pursued these, but prior to leaving, it dispatched three squads to the planet's surface to retrieve any Rebel documents and kill any survivors.
While investigating the surface, the Imperial squads—Kraeth squad, Lesan squad, and Dangerst squad—discovered an unknown object with several groups of beings converging on it. Three of the groups were Rebel squads—namely, the Rancor squad, Womp Rats squad, and Santhar squad squads—sent to retrieve the object. The other groups were smugglers who had become alerted to the presence of the object while passing through the system. The smuggler squads Red Wing and Pounders were led by the bounty hunter Ragan Ten.
The three factions engaged in a fierce three-way battle over the unknown object, each faction wanting to retrieve it.